DUKW
Overview
Amphibious vehicle
An amphibious vehicle , is a vehicle or craft, that is a means of transport, viable on land as well as on water – just like an amphibian....
that was designed by a partnership under military auspices of Sparkman & Stephens and General Motors Corporation (GMC) during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
for transporting goods and troops over land and water and for use approaching and crossing beaches in amphibious
Amphibious warfare
Amphibious warfare is the use of naval firepower, logistics and strategy to project military power ashore. In previous eras it stood as the primary method of delivering troops to non-contiguous enemy-held terrain...
attacks. Designed to last only long enough to meet the demands of combat, productionized Ducks, a modification of the 2-ton capacity "deuce" trucks used by the US military in World War II, were later used as tourist craft in marine environments.
The designation of DUKW is not a military acronym; rather, the name comes from the model naming terminology used by GMC:
- "D" indicated a vehicle designed in 1942,
- "U" meant "utility",
- "K" indicated front-wheel drive,
- "W" indicated two powered rear axles.
Decades later, the DUKW designation was explained erroneously by writers such as Donald Clarke who wrote in 1978 that it was an acronym for "Duplex Universal Karrier, Wheeled".
